


Impulses

by Kittylin15



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Humor, One Shot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-16
Packaged: 2018-02-16 18:40:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 6,327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2280507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittylin15/pseuds/Kittylin15
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Have you ever written a fanfiction and had the impulse to write something that has nothing to do with your story? I have and usually end up keeping them to my self but no more, I'm going to post them here in a series of one shots.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> While I was writing I kept getting ideas that had nothing to do with the story so I started this collection of one shots

**Crack**

Arthur was with his usual hunting party deep in the forest. Containing both his most trusted Knights and his idiot manservant, Merlin. He'd been following the tracks of a deer for a while.

The knights' watched in anticipation as the prince stopped to examine the trail. Merlin , stood off to the side sighing in boredom.

"Don't move." The prince whispered at his manservant, freezing him in place.

Arthur noticed the tracks veered in his manservant's direction. He crept to his side to push the bush behind him out of the way. He spotted the deer. The prince signaled for the knights to stay back; he wanted the kill for himself.

Suddenly there was a noise.

_Crack_

A stick cracked in two, coming from close by.

Arthur watched in anger as his prey jumped out of sight. Turning to the obvious culprit. "Merlin, what did I say about not moving! Honestly, is that so hard a task to perform, can you do nothing right?"

The prince glared into the frowning face of his manservant.

"Ah, sir. It wasn't Merlin who stepped on the stick but you." One of the knights had the guts to point out.

Arthur looked under his foot to see evidence of this. "Oh." Was all the prince exclaimed after.

 


	2. Salt

Merlin brought the prince his dinner, slumping in a chair on the other side of the table from him after he finished serving his master.

"Why you so tired? I gave you the after noon off." Arthur asked his manservant before sniffing at his food in delight. Digging in not waiting for an answer.

"Gaius had me do chores all after noon." Merlin complained in exhaustion. "He always…" The prince blocked out the rest of what he was saying. He'd grown quite good at being able to pretend it was quiet with his friend around even though it never was.

Arthur observed his manservant as he complained. The prince slowed his chewing and then completely stopped when he noticed something. Turning his head squinting to get a better view to figure out what it was. Swallowing before speaking. "Did Gaius have you clean his leech tank again?"

"Yeah, how did you know? I haven't even got to that part yet." Merlin inquired. Making a disgusted face thinking back on the experience.

"Because there's one still on you neck." Arthur pointed out using his fork.

Merlin immediately stood up clawing at his neck, knocking the chair over. "Get it off, get it off!"

"Hold on you idiot, you can't just pull it off like that!" Arthur berated as he threw down his eating utensils standing up from his own seat to help his friend before he hurt himself.

The prince grabbed his manservant's neck to hold it still as he snatched the saltshaker off the table that came with his evening meal. Emptying some of its contents onto the creature causing it to swivel up and let go of it's prey.

Merlin looked at the leech that had fallen to the ground in disgust that the creature was just on him and Arthur examined the wound the thing left behind.

"You know, it kinda looks like you have a hicky on your neck."


	3. Spider

 

 

 

Merlin dropped the armor he'd been up cleaning all night on the table in his master's chambers.

He'd almost just died because he drank poison for the prat yet he couldn't give him a week off to finish recovering. He knew he was just being bitter thinking like that considering the fact he felt completely back to his full health with a little help of the magic Gaius used in the cure.

Sure if Arthur hadn't gone and got the flower for the antidote he would've been dead by now. So he guesses they're even now with each other; a life for a life.

The manservant turned around only to be surprised by his master's presence right behind him. "Arthur, don't sneak up on people like that. You could give someone a heart attack."

"We couldn't have you almost die again, I'd miss you too much." The prince responded. The warlock wasn't sure if he was being sarcastic or not. "Now that your back, you'll need to completely clean my chambers from top to bottom. It's fallen into chaos in your absence."

Merlin had to agree with his master. Even though from what he'd been told, that the prince hadn't been in his chamber's once since the feast where he was poisoned since he went on that quest; it was a complete mess. Arthur had been trapped in his room for less than a day and not aloud to go anywhere before he escaped but that seemed like enough time to produce this amount of clutter and dirt. The room was in need of a good dusting in the warlock's opinion.

"Oh my god." The prince exclaimed with wide eyes.

Merlin looked at the expression on his master's face and quickly turned around expecting to see some assassin trying to attack and kill the prince, business as usual, but it was just a spider hanging from the chandelier.

"Kill it!" The prince demanded as he backed up to the corner of the room away from the arachnid.

"It's just a spider. Why would you be afraid of it?" Merlin exclaimed. Sure, it was a little bigger and hairier than the ones he was used to but he'd never seen his master react this way.

"When I was trapped the cave trying to get your flower, their were these giant spiders that tried to eat me!" Arthur defended his reason believing his new fear to be completely rational.

"I'm pretty sure this one isn't going to be able to consume you. Its mouth is way to small for that." The warlock said mockingly before moving to retrieve it.

"Don't touch it, you idiot." Arthur yelled at his manservant as he reached for it.

Merlin ignored the warning.

 

**...o0o _...  
_ **

 

Arthur burst into the physician's chambers. Supporting his manservant over to the patient bed.

"What happened?" Gaius asked worriedly as he looked at the state of his wards swollen hand. The boy had just recovered from being deathly poisoned and now this.

"There was a spider in my chambers and I told Merlin not to touch it, but would the idiot listen to me, no, he just had to go against my orders even when it's in his best interest." Arthur ranted.

"How was I supposed to know it was poisonous?" Merlin shot back at his master in frustration. All he wanted to do was get back at the prince by teasing him about his new fear of spiders but no it just had to bite him to spite him, ruining his plans.

"Spider bites can be nasty. What did it look like?" Gaius asked as he walked over to his shelf of references books; that Merlin believed held all the answers' to the universe and what it didn't know he could just get from the great dragon.

"Aw, it was about the size of my hand, all back except for a little bit of orange on its back.

Gaius flipped through the pages until he came to the section with black spiders and looked at the drawings until he found one that fit. "Is it this one?" The physician propped the book up so that the prince could see.

"That looks right." Arthur confirmed his suspicion and the old man frowned.

"I was afraid so. The Black Lace Weaver is the most poisonous spider in this region. If you weren't you I would say it was just a coincidence, but you are so I'm going to have to say, some one's trying to kill you."" Gaius said with worry.

Merlin paled even more at that information. "Just my luck?"

"Spider bites usually don't kill so how bad could it be." Arthur said to placate his manservant.

"You forget my lord that they can be magically altered to be deadly. Usually it's just three days of nausea and swelling but with magic it could be three days till death." Gaius said dramatically. "It says here the only cure are the Glodly berries that only grow a days ride to the north. You must leave quickly my lord, we don't know how much more time he has."

" But I just got back from a journey to gather an ingredient to save his ass from dying of poison." Arthur complained.

"And I got poisoned twice in your stead." Merlin complained back with his swollen hand raised so that his master could see the results.

"Fine!" Arthur said before leaving dragging his feet in exasperation.

"It must be a record being mortally poisoned twice within two weeks. If you're dying you better lay down." Gaius suggested to his ward.

Merlin sighed. "Aren't you being a little dramatic? Are you sure it wasn't just a normal Black Lace Weaver. I feel a little nauseous and my hands swollen. Aren't those the normal reaction." He asked.

"That is true, but it's never bad to be safer than sorry." Gaius shrugged his shoulders.

"So you could've just sent Arthur on a purposeless journey." Merlin asked.

The physician nodded. "That could be very true, just don't tell the prince that when he returns. If we have to act like the berries are useful we will. Now lay down, you could possibly be dying.

 

 

 


	4. I'm Fine!

"Arthur I'm fine." Merlin batted his master's worried hands away as he tried to check him for injuries.

"You just fell off a cliff, how could you be alright?" The prince questioned a little hysterically.

They'd been out on their weekly hunting trip when the path they were walking along suddenly ended behind some bushes at a cliff. Well, Merlin didn't stop soon enough because he wasn't paying attention like usual. Imagine Arthur's surprise when his manservant reappeared minutes later looking completely unharmed.

"I had a soft landing?" Was Merlin's weak excuse.

The prince looked over the edge to see only sharp rocks way down at the bottom. "You call that a soft landing? There must be something wrong with you. Anything wrong hurt at all?" He exclaimed with wide eyes. Examining his head looking for any sign of a concussion.

Merlin looked over the edge and realized how unnatural this looked. Using his magic to save himself seemed like a good idea at the time but now, standing here trying to explain to a hysterical prince who just thought he saw his best friend fall to his death he wasn't so sure.

Maybe his screaming in tare as he free fell didn't help any.

"How'd you even manage to get back up here so fast." The prince looked at his manservant suspiciously.

"There's a path. You just can't see it from here." Another weak excuse from the secrete warlock.

"We better head back." Arthur suggested holding his chin and shaking his head, as he looked his manservant over.

"But you haven't caught anything yet." Merlin said in surprise. His master never returned until he killed something. One time he made him stay in the forest for over three days until he managed to kill a bunny. A bunny not even a rabbit.

"Merlin, you could be really injured and not even know it. We have to take you back to Camelot to see Gaius." Arthur defended his reasons. "Do need any help walking?" The prince offered his shoulder for support.

"Arthur I told you I'm fine! I can walk myself." Merlin stomped back up the path they'd come from as proof.


	5. Dungeon?

Merlin opened his eyes slowly. Confused to where he was because it was so dark. Last thing he could remember he'd been out hunting with Arthur but judging from the cold stone he could feel through his shirt he was definitely not outside in the forest any more. He could feel a headache forming, probably from how they got him here. Finally realizing he was chained to a wall. He shook the chain and groaned when he had no luck.

"Stop making all that racket! My head hurts" Came a gruff but familiar voice from the other side of the cell.

Merlin squinted at the other side, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark. His eyes widening when he realized who it was. "Uther?" Looking from the decrepit cell at the king's fine clothes that had now been soiled.

"Yes it's me boy." The king admitted with a little bite to his voice from frustration for letting him self get into this situation.

"What are you doing in a dungeon?" Merlin asked confused. It wasn't that unusual for him self to end up in a dungeon for one reason or another, but Uther usually put people there.

"I don't know, same reason you are." Uther replied mockingly at the boy's stupid question.

"Right."

The door threw open suddenly admitting a troop of armed men.

"Aw, I see our prisoners are finally awake." The man who appeared to be their leader exclaimed.

"What is the meaning of this?" Uther interrogated his captors.

"Well you see, our employers have planned an attack on Camelot. They figured it would be easier to take over a kingdom without a king, so they hired us to get you out of the way until the attack is over." The man explained.

"Why not just kill me now instead of keeping me alive?" Uther asked.

"They want to kill you themselves in front of the people. To finalize their take over." The leader took pleasure in telling him.

"You've explained why I'm here now, but what about the boy, surely they didn't tell you to kidnap him too?" Uther inquired further.

"Aw, the boy. They were actually very adamant that we take him because apparently he's secretly been protecting the prince." The leader quickly walked over to the other side of the cell and grabbed Merlin's hair to force his head up. "Haven't you boy? Been using magic to do it too."

Merlin winced as the man roughed let go of his head, slamming it against the wall.

"Emry's is what the druid's call you isn't it. Prophesied to become the strongest sorcerer to ever live." The leader repeated what his employers had told them and at the same time outing Merlin's secrete to the last person on earth he wanted it to be.

Uther wanted to laugh at this accusation but he could tell the man was very serious. The look on the boys face was proof enough that what he said was true. Leaving the king speechless.

"Without his father and his little pet sorcerer protector, Arthur will fail." The man said before leaving the two in silence.

The king glared at his lying son's manservant from his own chains. All these years and he'd been using magic right under his nose. Counting all the times the boy had been accused of sorcery but been let off because he thought him too stupid to be even capable.

"Well this is awkward." Merlin exclaimed


	6. Draggy

Merlin was running for his life through a busy hall.

Dodging other servants with as much grace as he possessed which wasn't much. Holding something close to his body so not to drop it.

The knights were all on their way to sword practice together when they witnessed this.

Merlin spun on his heel to avoid a woman carrying a bucket; putting his momentum into another movement since he wouldn't able to stop in time other wise. When he stopped spinning he sighed in relief.

"What's the rush?" Lancelot asked as he witnessed the weird behavior. At the sight of them the boy looked relieved before running in their direction and hiding behind them.

"Merlin!" Could be heard coming from the hall the boy had just emerged from. " You are so dead when I find you." The prince came charging out with his fists clenched. He narrowed his eyes as he spotted his manservant hiding behind his knights.

The Knights of the Round Table were really curious at the reason why they were being used as a human shield.

Gwaine narrowed his eyebrows together in confusion when he felt something soft being placed in one of his hands behind him. He brought it forward to examine what it was. 

In his hand he had a children's toy of a stuffed dragon. It had the dopiest expression and colouring that looked like it used to be bright red but had experienced so much use it had wore away to pink. "Whose is this?" Gwaine asked as he held it up for the others inspection. He looked up at the enraged prince. "Is this yours?" Waving the two back and forth.

"Give that back!" Arthur demanded as he stomped over. He went to reach for it but Gwaine held it above his head but since he wasn't much taller the prince almost got possession of it but then Percival plucked it out of his hand to inspect the toy closer.

"Where did this come from?" Percival asked as he held up the well-used toy out of everyone's reach.

"I found it when I was cleaning Arthur's chambers. I was trying to organize the cupboard beside his bed and I found it hidden away in a far back corner." Merlin answered.

"I never told you to go in there." The Arthur snapped with a pout.

"Remember last week when I didn't do something that you never told me to do that 'It was my job to read your mind'. Had a little bit of extra time and decided to make sure everything was in order. What are you doing with that thing anyways?" Merlin inquired.

"My nurse maid made that for me when I was three. It must have gotten stuffed there one day and I forgot about it. " Arthur claimed.

"I don't know you seemed pretty enraged when you saw I had it. You didn't even ask me before lunging at me to get it back." Merlin questioned his story.

"Well if you didn't run away like that, there wouldn't have been a problem." Arthur defended himself.

"I was running for my life, the look on your face spoke of your intentions." Merlin stared his master down. "If you don't want I'll take it. It's pretty cute."

Arthur narrowed his eyes. "No you can't have it." He snapped.

Merlin smiled in victory. He could tell that the toy held a lot of sentimental value.

"Just give me my Draggy back!" The prince demanded with a hand out to receive and a frown on his face.

"Give the man his Draggy back Sir Percival." Merlin told the knight.

When the toy dragon was placed back in the prince's hands they could just catch a smile flashing across his face before he stomped off.


	7. Blabber Mouth

The guards opened the throne room doors to emit the new comers. You see it was one of those days were the king listened to the peoples problems. Two cloaked figures appeared and started to walk towards the dais.

The shorter figure stopped at the sight of a gangly young man with big ears who was off to the side standing with the other observers.

"Emry's!" The young man screamed in excitement as he threw off his hood.

Everyone was curious who the boy was referring to; he was facing a crowd so it wasn't obvious yet. They all watched as the cloaked figure quickly ran over to surprisingly stop to stand in front of …Merlin.

Who, at the shout of his druid named, was attempting to sneak out but the boy was too quick for him.

"Can I have your autograph!" The boy asked pulling out a quill and paper from his large robes, uncapping the ink.

The taller figure faced palmed. He knew he shouldn't have brought the village idiot but he followed him so what was he to do. The elder snuck out before any trouble began.

Merlin was signaling with his arms for the druid boy to go away and this wasn't a good time. Everyone's eyes were on him because they were all curious. Could it be mistaken identity because everyone already knew who the princes manservant was.

"Do you think you could do a magic trick for me? That would be so amazing. As soon as magic was mentioned everyone gave the prince's manservant a wide berth.

Merlin shook his head no adamantly. Looking around panicked.

"You can't, but your prophesied to become the most powerful sorcerer to ever live!" The boy shouted in surprise.

There was a long moment of silence.

"Guards, seize the boy!" Uther yelled. All of the young warlock's friends were too shocked to do anything at the moment.

Merlin was seized by a Guard on each arm and started to be dragged away.

The druid boy winced when he realized what he had done when all the chaos started.

In all the excitement of finding out that the prince's personal manservant had been a sorcerer all these years, they'd forgotten about the one who'd given away his secrete. Just knowing was treason. He started to whistle as he tried appear calm and walked out the doors unnoticed. No one suspects a happy whistling guy.

Merlin could be heard as the throne room doors shut behind him shouting a muffled "Blabber Mouth!".

The silence that had fallen over the room when the doors finally closed was broken by the prince's confused "What just happened here?"

 

 


	8. Substitute Manservant

Arthur groaned in pain as the curtain were ripped open to emit light onto his face, flipping over to put a pillow over his head. to block it out.

"Time to get up princess!"

Something seemed off about this wake up call. The snarky comment was right but the tone of voice was all wrong and only once person ever called him that name. "Gwaine what are you doing in my room?"

"Merlin asked me to fill in for him." Gwaine informed the prince.

Arthur snapped up to glare at the knight. "Why can't he come to work today, and why would he ask you instead of all the other servants in the castle? You don't exactly have experience."

"It was last minute. Well actually Gaius asked me. Apparently Merlin woke up with a fever this morning but he was still determined to go to work, so the old man locked him in his room to force him to get some rest so he can recover. I think Gaius asked me just because I was the first person he came across."

"Why are you wearing Merlin's clothes?" Arthur asked in confusion once he actually woke up enough to notice.

"I thought that if I was going to play the part I might as well dress the part." Gwaine exclaimed as he fiddled with the knot on the neckerchief he'd borrowed.

"Could you possibly get me breakfast then?" The prince tried to make the best of his situation

"Don't know where the kitchen is. All the knights just get served together in one room." Gwaine looked sheepish at his lack of knowledge.

"Do you know how to do any of the chores Merlin usually does?" Arthur asked in exasperation.

Gwaine gave a thoughtful look as he tried to remember what his friend always complained about having to do. "I know how to sharpen a sword, Knight remember." He indicated to his person.

"You go down to the armory then, shine my armor and sharpen my sword." Arthur watched the knight leave. When the door was closed he quickly shot out of and got dressed before running in the direction of the physician chambers.

Gaius was just leaving to perform his morning duties when Arthur rushed passed him. Rolling his eyes; he knew that if he sent Gwaine the prince would come running eventually but he didn't think it would be so soon. Merlin would be gaining a nurse whether he wanted one or not.

Merlin was just going to eat his first spoonful of chicken soup when someone barged through the door surprising him enough to make him spill it. "Arthur! What are you doing here. Didn't Gaius send someone to inform you I'm sick and to fill in for me."

"Yes he did, but that someone was Gwaine." Arthur emphasized with large eyes.

"Why would he..." Merlin figured his mentor must have ulterior motives for doing that. Gwaine was a great knight but he'd never been good at cleaning up after others or following orders.

"You need to get better quick. I'm going to starve to death at this rate." The prince emphasized his point by taking the bread off his manservant's tray and eating it. "Do you still have a fever?"

Merlin tried to bat his friends hand away.

Arthur noticed a potion bottle on the tray. Snatching it and uncorking it to take a sniff. "This stuff is foul but you have to take it if your going to get better." He said with glee, bringing the bottle close to the other boys face so he could smell for himself.

Merlin quirked an eyebrow at his friend. Snatched the bottle to take the medicine despite the smell. Gulping it all down, scrunched up his nose at the awful taste. "Wasn't that door locked?" He pondered out loud.

"I think it was but I must've rammed into it so fast it must've broken." The prince shrugged. His manservant gave him a blank look when on closer inspection he noticed the door handle was missing on one side. "I'll get someone to fix it. Now go to sleep so you can get better and come back to work."

"What are you going to do?'' Merlin questioned his master as he la **i** d down, closing his eyes.

"I'll be here hiding from Gwaine."

 


	9. Caught Red Handed

"Arthur, do you think I could leave the feast early?" Merlin interrupted the prince's conversation with Lancelot. Sounding anxious as he slammed the whine pitcher down on the table between the two.

Nobles laughed all around enjoying themselves. Not paying attention to their prince's conversation with his manservant because they were all too drunk already to care.

"Is there a reason you wish to leave? This is part of you job." Arthur asked patronizingly. Thinking his servant was just being lazy. Wanting to go to bed early instead of standing around watching the nobles get drunk while he had to remain sober all night. Taking a sip of his drink to mock him.

"Yes! I think the visiting lord just gripped my ass!" Merlin sprouted crudely.

Arthur choked on his whine when he heard this. Lance hit his back until he was sure the prince could breath again. "I'm sure your just imaged it." He gasped out.

"Who gripped whose ass?" Gwaine butted into the conversation, already twice as drunk as everyone else. Ignoring his previous conversational companion for information on anything perverted. "Couldn't help but over hear." He sprouted at the prince's frown.

Merlin started explaining really fast. "I was doing my job, making sure every ones goblets remained full, but when I went to lean over the lord's cup, I felt someone grope my ass." Saying the last part slowly to give it more impact.

"Are you sure it was him? Could've been someone else walking behind you. A grope and run." Lancelot asked levelheaded. Trying to come up with an explanation.

"He laughed. I'm sure it was him." Merlin said as evidence.

Gwaine strained his neck to see over the other noble's heads and shot the visiting lord a look of suspicion. He was maybe ten years younger than Uther but larger in build.

"Like anyone would want to pinch your bony butt. You probably just mistook it for someone brushing past you." Arthur reasoned. "I suggest you get back to work." He ordered.

Merlin groaned as he grabbed the whine pitcher back off the table and went to fill the other noble's classes on the other side of the table. Far away from the visiting Lord as possible. Avoidance was key.

The three watched the manservant walk away. Locking their sights onto the very visible hand print on his behind from the sauce used on that nights chicken wings. Leaving the prince speechless.

"Think he's imagining that." Lancelot said to the prince rhetorically.

Gwaine looked over the lord to see that his hands were covered in the sauce as he laughed and drank beside the king. Caught read handed, literally. Since the moment he met Merlin he'd thought of him like a little brother. He was just so naive and needed protection or someone might take advantage of him.

"I am going to kill that man." The drunken knight exclaimed only to be stopped by the prince as he put an arm out to block his way.

"No. That will be my pleasure." Arthur claimed. Knowing it was his right being Merlin's master and knowing him the longest out of the three. The boy was his responsibly being his manservant and no one messed with what belonged to him.

"Arthur what are you doing?" The king yelled as he watched his son grab the front of the lords shirt threatening. Bringing his face towards his own over the food across his front.

The music stopped and everyone turned their attention towards the head table.

"If you ever touch my manservant again you'll have me and my knights to answer too. You won't even be able to get fixed up afterwards because he's the physicians ward and Gaius thinks of him like a son." The lord peered pass the crown prince's angry face to see the matching expressions on the knights behind him.

Arthur dropped the idiot to the ground and turned to make a dramatic exit. All the knight of the round table followed him. Walking passed the surprised banquette quests.

"Merlin, come!" The prince demanded his manservant who was standing in open mouth shock at what just happened; over filling the cup he'd been filling before the chaos started. Merlin jumped to follow them. Not wanting to be left in a room pertaining an angry king.

"You really didn't have to do that." Merlin said to the prince once they'd passed the doors and reached the hallway.

"Oh, he really did." Gwaine confirmed as he slipped an arm around the boys shoulders as they walked.

"Isn't your father going to be really angry in the morning? He may not do something to you but he'll probably blame this whole thing on me. I'll probability get executed or flogged." Merlin hugged the whine jug for comfort as he asked Arthur who was walking ahead.

"He isn't that important a lord. You'll probably just end up in the stocks, but don't worry I have the key." The prince reassured his manservant as he turned around, tinkling his ring of keys together.

888

 


	10. Smile of Doom

Merlin was walking down the corridor to the princes room to perform his morning duties when he passed the king who was walking in the opposite direction. Freezing in fear.

Uthur had just smiled at him.

The king never smiled, least of all at him. Merlin usually only received frowns and nothing else. That was the way the world worked.

This wasn't just a little smile either. It was one of the smiles he reserved for when he thought he was alone with his son.

There was only one explanation for it…

He was going to die.


	11. Wall

Merlin was running down the hall way when he walked smack into what must've been a wall because it didn't move at all on impact and it hurt like hell afterwards.

Laying on the ground after, swearing under his breath as he held his nose; he didn't think it was broken though.

He really had to stop doing that. It wasn't the first time he'd walked into a wall; or doors, tables, chairs, cats, other people… ok, he really needed to start paying attention to where he was going.

"Well, are you going to apologize?" Asked a vaguely familiar voice.

Merlin glanced over to where the voice came from to see a pair of large booted feet; and looked up, and up. Only to see the newly knighted notoriously quit Sir Percival.

So it wasn't a wall after all.


	12. Walk

Merlin's magic had been revealed very publicly not long after Arthur had been crowned king. He'd saved everyone in Camelot from another one of Morgana's attacks but he did it with enough of a light show that everyone had seen.

Merlin confessed everything and Arthur had to begrudgingly accept that he was grateful for everything his manservant had done for him. Forgiving him for the lying and magic for his troubles.

The wound from Uther's death was still too raw in everyone's minds for Merlin to be accepted for his magic and great deeds. The council warned there would be an upheaval if he allowed a known magic user to stay while so many had been prosecuted just because he was close to him. They gave him three choices: execution, imprisonment, or banishment.

He didn't have the heart to see his best friend executed. Merlin would die of boredom if he were stuck in a cell. So the only logical choice was banishment.

All his friends saw Merlin to the main gate of Camelot. Most people who were banished did not have a farewell part that featured the king along with knights and the court physician; but Merlin wasn't most people.

"Are you sure you don't want a horse? It's the least I could do. It's a long walk to Eldor." Arthur offered, feeling really guilty. Although he was the king he had to listen to his people's opinion over his own.

"I'll be fine." Merlin brushed off his offer. The king wasn't sure if it was because he was annoyed at him or not.

"I promise once things have calmed down I'll legalize magic and you can come back to us." Arthur tried to offer some comfort. If he had to leave Camelot he'd be devastated.

"I'll hold you to that promise. Just try not to die while I'm gone." Merlin said cockily before whistling like he was calling something. The sound of wing beats could be heard.

Arthur's face dropped in shock at the sight of the great dragon's sudden appearance.

"You didn't actually think I was going to walk to the border did you?" Merlin asked with a smirk as he climbed on the back of the great dragon and they flew away together into the sunset.

You could hear the laughter of the warlock as he slowly disappeared out of sight.

 


	13. Stone Table

Merlin was surprised to see the big stone tablet of a table in the middle of the meeting room. "Arthur, how did this get here." It made him nervous but he couldn't understand why.

"I sent some people to go retrieve it. Isn't it great." Arthur replied excitedly. The warlock couldn't imagine how hard it must have been to bring the giant slab stone table all the way back to Camelot.

"Why'd you wait more than a year to do that if you wanted it so much?" Merlin raised an eyebrow at his master.

"My father would never have allowed it, but now I'm officially king and my orders don't have to be approved by anyone. They have to do what I say." Arthur said confidently. Merlin thought the power might finally be going to his master's head.

When all the other members of the round table arrived they were surprised to see what they were named after sitting in the middle of the room. They thought it made the meetings feel a lot more personal than sitting at the large conference table that could site over than 30 men. They all excited retook the same place's as last time.

"Sit in your spot already." The king demanded Merlin once everyone was already seated and he was the only one left standing.

Now he remembered why he should be nervous. The table included symbols of aspects of the people who sat around it. The spot open for him was clearly marked magic in the old religion. He hadn't been worried that anyone would figure that out when they were on the run from Morgana because he knew that no one but Gaius present at the time knew how to read the ancient language.

Now anyone could come by and notice by accident.

"Merlin!" Arthur yelled to gain his attention. "We're all waiting."

He sat down with no more resistance but Merlin couldn't concentrate on what anyone was saying through the meeting as his eyes were locked on the symbol the said magic to no ones knowledge but his.

The door suddenly opened to the conference room. "Geoffrey, did you bring those documents I wanted." Arthur asked since he could actually see who had entered because he was facing the door unlike Merlin.

The warlock froze. The only other person in the whole of Camelot who knew the language had just entered; the royal librarian.

"Yes my lord." The old man spoke as he moved across the room and placed what looked like maps and a tomb on … for some reason, on the table. " This is a very interesting choice for a meeting table. A table of the old kings of equality. I approve of your choice. The symbols meanings are very interesting."

"You actually know what they mean. Can we hear it." Arthur inquired.

"Certainly. Yours means, courage. Gwaine is strength. Percival's is patience. Elyan's is perciverance, Leon's is leadership. Lancelot's is loyalty, Gwenevere's is love. And finally Merlin's means… magic." Geoffrey gave the boy a knowledgeable look.

The room froze in silence for a moment before Arthur started to laugh. "I guess you got stuck with the left over."

Sometimes Merlin was so glad that Arthur could be so oblivious at times.

 


End file.
